


The Clearing in the Woods

by T Verano (t_verano)



Series: December, This Time Around [5]
Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: 2015 TS Secret Santa Drabble Days prompt "joy", M/M, Winter fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2020-04-22 23:53:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19139386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t_verano/pseuds/T%20Verano
Summary: December with the guys a couple of years post-TSbyBS.Jim goes for a walk in the woods





	The Clearing in the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2015 TS Secret Santa Drabble Days prompt "joy"

There was still unpacking to do, but snowflakes were beginning to drift lazily down through the air outside, and Jim had felt no compunction in grabbing his parka and leaving the rest of the chores for later. This was why he'd come up here, after all.

He headed down the trail that led east away from the cabin, winding its way among the tall firs to end up eventually at a small meadow ringed by more firs, and with every step he took he felt more exhilarated. 

Up here, away from 'civilization,' Jim felt alive. He felt new. He felt good. Not that he felt _bad_ in Cascade, it wasn't that — but here, especially with the falling snow bringing along its hush of silence, he felt a sense of peace he rarely felt in the city; a sense, almost, of quiet joy.

 _Joy._ In warmer months, the meadow he was heading for was a lush green temptation to spend hours lying cushioned on its soft grasses, watching clouds drift across the circle of open sky above. In winter, it was the site for snowball fights, for Blair making snow angels while humming Christmas songs, for sharing a thermos of coffee while sitting on the huge fallen log at the south side of the meadow. 

It was also where, three Julys ago — after nine miserable months of things going wrong, of upheavals, of doubts and fears and disappointments — he'd finally _understood._

He'd bought the cabin earlier that year to have a place where he could lick his wounds after Blair left. Left _him,_ although Jim hadn't allowed himself to think of it that way back then. He'd known, though, that Blair _would_ leave, and soon, with his dissertation deep-sixed and his stretch at the Academy ending so badly. All those times Jim had said, "You're not a cop," had turned out to be prophetic; Blair was good — hell, _very_ good — at a lot of the job, but there were some things he wasn't willing to do, and he couldn't be a cop without being willing to do them.

That July Blair had come with him up to the cabin. He'd hiked this trail with Jim. He'd been the one to sit down in the grass first, the one to lie back and look up at the sky, to start watching the clouds.

He'd been the one to say, "I want to kiss you."

Jim could never remember that moment without a rush of fierce joy. Yeah, he'd been a dumbass at the time, still so sure that Blair was going to leave, but Blair hadn't given up on him.

And now here they were. Well, here _he_ was, but Blair would get here when he could.

Jim stopped when he caught his first glimpse of the clearing — _their_ clearing — through the trees. That was far enough for today, since Blair wasn't here with him. 

Next weekend, though, Blair would be here. 

With him. Jim turned back towards the cabin, smiling.


End file.
